Two of the world’s best footballing nation will go head to head in the Group F game at the Euros.
France, the current World Champion will face Germany, the 2014 World Champions in the second match of the group.
Group F features the likes of Portugal who are the current Euro champions as well as Hungary.
The match will take place at the Allianz Arena in Germany.
History In The Competition
France:
France was the first country to host the Euros back in 1960 where they finished fourth.
They have had their fair share of victories as well as losses over the past couple of tournaments.
The French national team have won the competition twice in their history (1984 & 2000), and have reached the finals once, where they lost.
In the last Euro, all the way back in 2016, France faced their current group mates Portugal in the finals, where they lost 1-0 after extra time.
They were the hosts and the most favorable team to win the entire competition but Eder, the striker from Portugal denied them that opportunity.
After their loss, they have been waiting to get their revenge of their rivals and the group stage might be a good place to start.
Germany:
Germany are one of the most successful countries to take part in the Euros. They are the only team after Spain to win this tournament thrice.
They first won the Euros as West Germany back in 1972 where they beat Soviet Union 3-0.
In a quest to defend their title, in 1976 they reached the final once again but were the ultimate runner up as they lost to Czechoslovakia in penalties.
Germany did get their revenge however as they regained their spot as the Best of Europe in 1980 after winning 2-1 against Belgium.
They hosted the 1988 Euro Cup but sadly bowed out of the competition at the semi-final stage.
Both East and West Germany were now combined and they were known as Germany.
In 1992, they reached the final before losing 2-0 to Denmark. However, the very next tournament, in 1996, they beat Czech Republic to win their third Euro title.
Until 2008, there was no presence of the Germans in the final four of the tournament. In 08, they were beaten by Spain 1-0.
After this, for the next consecutive tournaments (2012 & 2016), Germany failed to reach the finals and had to be satisfied with semi-final appearances.
Rivalries Over The Years
Germany vs France is one of the oldest rivalries in European football. This history goes back to the time when Germany were known as the Weimar Republic.
They first faced each other in 1931 and have played a total of thirty-one games which includes both friendlies as well as official tournament matches.
If we look at the statistics, France have an advantage as they’ve won fourteen games in comparison to Germany’s ten.
Seven of their games have ended in a stalemate. The French national team haven’t tasted defeat against Die Mannschaft in over six year.
Also Read: How Germany Should Line Up For The Euros
Germany last defeated France during the 2014 World Cup, where they went on to lift the title.
Since then, the French side have won thrice while the other three remained a draw.
Their latest meeting was during the UEFA Nations League where France won 2-1.
As for individual goals, Antoine Griezmann has scored four times and is the highest goal scorer in these clashes.
Gerd Muller and Rudi Voller come in second with three goals each to their name.
Managerial Prowess
Germany’s manager Joachim Low and France’s manager Didier Deschamps have written their names in history as two successful World-Cup winning coaches as well as two highly sort after managers.
However, they both are staring at different paths ahead of their meeting in the group stages of the Euros.
Joachim will be coaching his last tournament as the manager of the German National Team.
Didier Deschamps, on the other hand looks set to take charge of the next generation of French players and will last till the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Both of these coaches have faced clashed against each other seven times in their career, with Didier having a superior record.
The French coach has won three and drawn two of their last meetings. His two defeats came during their 2013 friendly and the 2014 World Cup quarter-final.
Ever since then, his France team has had a sovereignty. Les Blues knocked out the Die Mannschaft in the 2016 semi-final of the Euros and also in the Nations League.
They are currently undefeated in five games against Germany.
Talents Galore
Both France and Germany have a generational talents in their hand to represent each national side for the foreseeable future.
From the defense to attacks, each side boast huge number of young players.
In term of goalkeepers, France has the likes of Mike Maignan, Alphonse Areola while Germany has Marc-Andre Ter Stegen, Alexander Nubel.
The defensive reinforcement for France is quite remarkable. Players like Upamecano, Konate, Theo and Lucas Hernandez, etc are just in another level.
As for Germany, they have Antonio Rudiger, Niklas Sule as well as Robin Koch and Jonathan Tah for their future.
Midfield is where both of these teams are stacked with high potential youngsters.
Camavinga, Aouar, Tolisso, Ndombele, Thomas Lemar and Adrian Rabiot are some of the most known and highly sort after French talents.
Kai Havertz, Joshua Kimmich, Leon Goretzka, Julian Brandt, Jamal Musiala and Florian Neuhaus are just some known young talented midfielders that Germany has to offer.
Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele, Kingsley Coman, Antoine Griezmann are the young strikers that will lead the line for France for the foreseeable future.
Players like Timo Werner, Serge Gnabry, Leroy Sane, Julian Draxler and Jann-Fiete Arp, are just some young strikers that Germany has to offer for the present and future.
Predicted Lineup
Since this is their first match to kick off the group stage for the Euros, both side will look to field their strongest possible lineup.
The supporters of France were filled with joy when Karim Benzema was called up to the national squad. However, the Real Madrid striker will not feature for the French outfit.
He recently suffered an injury during their friendly matches and as a result has been ruled out of the squad.
As for Germany, no injuries have been reported so Joachim will go all out for this match.
Looking at the form and experience, there is a high chance for the following lineup to be as exact as possible:
France: Lloris (GK) (C), Pavard, Varane, Kimpembe, L.Hernandez, Kante, Pogba, Griezmann, Coman, Mbappe, Dembele
Germany: Neuer (GK) (C), Klostermann, Hummels, Rudiger, Halstenberg, Kimmich, Goretzka, Gnabry, Havertz, Sane, Werner
